Submission on the Preliminary Recommendation on a Nomination for Listing Salvage Logging of Burnt Forests as a Potentially Threatening Process under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (Vic).

Dear Scientific Advisory Committee,

Preliminary Recommendation on a Nomination for Listing Salvage Logging of Burnt Forests as a Potentially Threatening Process under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (Vic)

We refer to the recommendation of the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) to nominate salvage logging of burnt forests as a potentially threatening process (PTP) under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (Vic) (FFG Act).

The nomination document is comprehensive in its assessment of the impacts of salvage logging of burnt forests and we support the preliminary recommendation of the SAC.  In our view, the nomination is also consistent with the purpose and objectives of the FFG Act and the requirement in section 16H of that Act to have regard only to nature conservation matters in making a decision or recommendation under that Division.

We are aware that the Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) will make a submission in this process. We support their recommendation to expand the listing to include salvage logging of forests impacted by all natural disturbance events, including large-scale storms, windthrow events and insect/pathogen attacks. 

Salvage logging after natural disturbance events has significant and ongoing consequences for flora and fauna and a negative effect on the regulation of ecosystem services, including regulation of water conditions, temperature and soil quality.^[1]  A recent study on the impacts of salvage logging on regulating ecosystems concluded that “[t]he overall negative impact of salvage logging on the provision of regulating ecosystem services calls for careful consideration of alternative management strategies” and “[t]his in turn requires explicit consideration of natural disturbances in natural resource management policies to avoid hasty and unplanned decision making.”^[2]

In October this year, the Supreme Court of Victoria granted interlocutory injunctions to halt salvage logging operations in the Wombat State Forest following severe storms.^[3] During those proceedings, the plaintiff, Wombat Forestcare Inc, relied on a report of expert ecologist, Associate Professor Grant Wardell-Johnson, to establish the threat posed by salvage logging to species in areas of forest affected by windthrow events which had resulted in the presence of much higher than average levels of coarse woody debris.^[4]

In the judgment, Her Honour Justice Richards referred to Associate Professor Wardell-Johnson’s report which emphasised the importance of coarse woody debris for habitat. The report stated:^[5]

“Coarse woody debris (CWD) can be defined as: ‘Sound and rotting logs and stumps that provide habitat for plants, animals and insects and a source of nutrients for soil development. This material generally greater than 8–10 cm in diameter.’ (Stevens 1997). CWD improves thermal conditions (by moderating temperature extremes and raising micro-scale moisture levels), as well as foraging opportunities and cover from predators (Fischer et al., 2004).

CWD provides habitat for an array of forest-floor vertebrates (Sullivan et al. 2012). Because intensive logging reduces abundance of many vertebrates, CWD helps to maintain abundance and diversity of forest vertebrates on or near logged sites. Habitat structures of large piles and windrows of woody debris on clear-cuts significantly increases abundance and species diversity compared with sites from which they were removed. Large-scale CWD structures as piles or windrows have clear conservation implications for vertebrates in commercial forest landscapes (Sullivan et al. 2012). […]”

Further, the expert report outlined the likely effects of the timber harvesting operations the subject of that proceeding on any large forest owls that might be present in the coupe and summarised these effects as follows:^[6]

“In short, the removal of windthrow trees, particularly under moist soil conditions (where the substrate also becomes compacted – compounding the impact of nest sites) is highly likely to cause serious and irreparable damage to large forest owls and their environment in the context of the high level of fragmentation created by the last 50 years of intensive logging carried out extensively in the area. There is a high level of importance of retaining any remaining remnants and CWD components for these species (see Wardell-Johnson and Robinson 2022 for reasoning).”

The expert report also stated:^[9]

“Small areas of such damage have in the past been tolerated because of the perceived large areas of relatively intact forest. However, high levels of recent fragmentation (see Wardell-Johnson and Robinson 2022) because of extensive and intensive logging over the last 50 years have changed this situation to one where all remnants and CWD are valuable habitat or habitat components to threatened species. They should not be disturbed if serious and irreversible environmental damage to these species and their environments are to be avoided.”

We submit that logging areas of forest that have been impacted by storm and windthrow events poses, or has the potential to pose, a significant threat to the survival of two or more taxa, specifically taxa that are reliant on coarse woody debris for habitat and threatened by habitat fragmentation. Accordingly, in our view, criteria 1.1 in Schedule 3 of the Flora and Gauna Guarantee Regulations 2019 (Vic) (FFG Regulations) is satisfied.

Climate change and changes in the use and management of land are modifying the characteristics of natural disturbance, often making them more frequent.^[7] Identification and protection of habitat likely to be climate change refugia is a conservation priority, particularly for species impacted by past logging and the 2019/20 bushfires.^[8]

As Victoria transitions away from widespread commercial logging, regeneration and restoration of forests is critical to ensure important habitat is preserved and that flora and fauna can persist and improve in the wild, in accordance with the FFG Act objectives.  The nomination of salvage logging of naturally disturbed forests as a PTP is a step towards achieving this goal by encouraging proper management of timber harvesting operations and prioritisation of conservation actions.

Thank you for your consideration and we would be pleased to expand on any of the above matters at any further opportunities.

^[1] Alexandro B Leverkus et al, ‘Salvage logging effects on regulating ecosystem services and fuel loads’ (2020) 18(7) Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 391.

^[2] Alexandro B Leverkus et al, ‘Salvage logging effects on regulating ecosystem services and fuel loads’ (2020) 18(7) Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 391.

^[3] Wombat Forestcare Inc v VicForests [2023] VSC 582.

^[4] Ibid [79].

^[5] Ibid [80].

^[6] Ibid [82].

^[9] Wombat Forestcare Inc v VicForests [2023] VSC 582 [80].

^[7] R Seidl et al, ‘Forest disturbances under climate change’ (2017) 7 National Climate Change 395.

^[8] Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Major Event Review of Regional Forest Agreements (Report, July 2022) 98.